Luminaire mounting assembly and lighting method

ABSTRACT

A luminaire assembly has an array of six luminaires mounted at the top of a high pole, and each of the luminaires has a preselected asymmetrical lighting pattern that is rotatably controllable by rotation of a lower optical assembly mounted on an upper main support housing. Rotation indexing mass on the assembly and housing indicate the relative position of the assembly to the housing to enable simply accomplished rotatable alignment of the overall lighting pattern.

0 United States Patent 1 3,660,650 Van Dusen, Jr. 1 May 2, 1972 s41 LUMINAIRE MOUNTING ASSEMBLY 3,246,135 4/1966 Husby ..240/25 x AND LIGHTING METHOD 3,299,263 1/1967 Bjontegard ..240/25 3,348,035 10/1967 Franklin et a1 ..240/25 [72] Inventor: {gag-013i: Van Dusen, Jr., South Milwau- 3,385,258 5/1968 Cumin et alm 240/25 X 3,435,202 3/1969 Jablonski ..240/25 [73] Assignee: McGraw-Edison Company, Milwaukee,

Wis. Primary Examiner-John M. Horan Assistant Examiner-Richard A. Wintercorn [22] Filed: Feb. 12, 1971 AttorneyR. J. Falkowski [21] App1.No.: 115,024

[57] ABSTRACT [52] U.S. Cl ..240/25, 240/41.6, 240/44, A luminaire assembly has an array of Six luminaires mounted 240/84 at the top of a high pole, and each of the luminaires has a [5]] lift. Cl ..FZlS l/l0, F215 3/10, F218 13/10 preselected asymmetrical lighting pattern that i rotatably Fleld of Search 25, controllable rotation of a lower optical assembly moun-ted on an upper main support housing. Rotation indexing mass on [56] References cued the assembly and housing indicate the relative position of the UNITED STATES PATENTS assembly to the housing to enable simply accomplished rotatable alignment of the overall lighting pattern. 3,080,475 3/1963 Corwin ..240/25 3,142,501 7/1964 Clark et a1. ..240/25 X 10 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAY 21912 3, 660,650

SHEET 1 [IF 2 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY HAROLD A. VAN ouseman.

PATENTEDMAY 2 m2 3, 560,650

SHEET 2 OF 2 B INVENTOR.

A HAROLD A. VAN DUSEN JR.

' ATTORNEY LUMINAIRE MOUNTING ASSEMBLY AND LIGHTING METHOD This invention relates to luminaire lighting assemblies, particularly high intensity luminaires for high mast mounting and methods for utilizing such luminaires.

Area lighting by luminaires, particularly of the high intensity type such as those using mercury lamps, has become subject to increasing demands for luminaires having pleasing esthetic qualities and providing relatively high intensity and reliability. Most such lighting is presently accomplished by single luminaires on top of poles or by a combination of fixed floodtype luminaire assemblies mounted in pairs or groups atop high poles. The difficulties in obtaining the desired lighting with a minimum number of poles and with the desired area coverage has not been successfully accomplished, primarily because of inadequacies in construction and versatility in lighting patterns.

With this invention a luminaire lighting assembly and method is provided that enables a relatively small number of poles each supporting high mast type lighting luminaire assemblies to be used to effectively and esthetically illuminate a given area. It enables the lighted area for each of the luminaire assemblies to be directed to provide selected area configurations. It also enables lighting patterns that are of such a nature that the loss of a single luminaire does not result in totally dark areas in the lighting pattern.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description.

FIG. 1 is a simplified side view of a pole and mounted luminaire assembly according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the luminaire assembly shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a single luminaire shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a simplified phantom side view. of the luminaire shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a detailed, partial sectional view of the luminaire shown in FIG. 4; I 1

FIG. 6 is a top view of the luminaire shown in FIG.-4 with the top cover plate removed; and i FIGS. 7, 8, 9 and 10 are representations of some of the lighting area intensity configurations available with the luminaire assembly shown in FIG. 1. t 9

FIG. 11 represents a single light area intensity configuration. i

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a luminaire assembly 10 is mounted on a mast or pole 11 that would typically be a high level mast in a range of 100 to 180 feet and would typically position assembly 10 above anarea to be lighted. Luminaire assembly 10 comprises six luminaires 12a through 12f, with each of the luminaires substantially identical in construction. The luminaires are each attached to a means for supporting the luminaires comprising a connecting tenon l4 and a luminaire support assembly 16 adapted to support the six luminaires in any manner known in the art.

Referring to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, the luminaires, considering luminaire 12a specifically, are attached to tenon 14 and comprise a cover housing 19 having retaining screws 53, an annular conical lip 21, a conical support assembly 22 and an optical assembly 23. Referring to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, showing simplified details of the construction of luminaire 12a, support assembly 22 supports optical assembly 23 and comprises a conical support section 24 with a mounting plate 25 connected to support cone 24 and to optical assembly 23, a latch 26 and a hinge 27.

Optical assembly 23 is of any available type designed to project light in a preselected determinable pattern in a manner known in the art. The actual lighting pattern is usually controlled by the optical characteristics of optical assembly 23 but could also be further modified by selecting the angle of the mounting of the optical assembly to the horizontal. Optical assembly 23 comprises a mercury lamp (not shown), for example, mounted inside of a reflector 29 and connected to a socket 31, that projects light through a transparent refractor 32. Latch 26 locks refractor 32 in place and hinge 27 receives refractor 32 and enables optical assembly 23 to be opened for access to the lamp. Electrical conductors 34'carry electrical power for the operation of the lamp.

Referring to FIG. 4 and FIGS. 5 and 6 for details, conical support assembly 22 is supported by a main support housing 36 that comprises an upper main frame 37, conical lip 21 which is a conical extension of upper main frame 37, and a lower main frame 38 connected to upper main frame 37 by any known means for connecting, such as bolts 39.

Lower main frame 38 has a lower annular conical lip 35 in adjacent cooperative relationship with conical lip 21 of upper main frame 37. Conical lips 21 and 35 are adapted to receive and support support-cone 24 between them. A means for adjustably clamping cone 24 between lips 21 and 35 is'provided by bolts 39 which may be selectively tightened and loosened. Lip 21 and support-cone 24 have compass type index markings with a single index mark 52 located on support-cone 24 and compass index marks 51 on conical-lip 21.

Upper main frame 37 is connected to tenon 14 by two clamps 46 and 47 connected toupper main frame 37 by bolts 48. A resilient. gasket 49 is mounted to sealthe opening for tenon 14 in housing cover.19.

Referring to FIG. 6, electrical ballasting equipment for the lamp comprises a ballast 41, capacitors 42 and 43 and electrical conductors 44 that are connected to a terminal assembly 45, to conductor 34 from lamp socket 31 and to a power source (not shown) through tenon 14.

Referring to FIGS. 7 through 10, typical area lighting configurations that are obtainable with a luminaire mounting assembly according to this invention are shown. For a typical lighting pattern for each luminaire, conical support assemblies 22 of each luminaire 12a-12f may be rotated to have index mark 52 adjusted in a direction as indicated by the arrows 53 through 58 sh'ownin FIGS. 7 through 10. The arrows cor,- respond to typical rotational positions for luminaire assemblies 12a through 12f, respectively. The arrows schematically show some of the possible directive configurations that are available with typical luminaires. For the configurations shown, lines A, Band C are based onillumination levels appearing at the points on the ground indicatedby lines A, B and C at comparative ratios of foot-candlepower at line A atone, line B at 0.5, and line C at 0.15. This ratio andconfigurations will vary with the types of lamps usedand' the candlepower distribution pattern of the individual luminaires used. FIG. 11 shows a typical single light pattern of the optics of a suitable individual commercial luminaire that could be used to obtain I the pattern shown in FIGS. 7 through '10. In FIG. 11 individual luminaire 12a is shown with an indexing rotation shown by arrow 53 with the same illumination level ratios A, B and C as in FIGS. 7-10. I y

In the utilization of assembly 10 according to this invention, assembly 10 is mounted at the top of high mast 11, the relative orientation of support assembly 22 of each luminaire is selected to provide a selected composite lighting pattern of a type shown in FIGS. 7-10 or any other attainable pattern that may be desired. Each of the luminaire optics is oriented by rotating support cone 24 to place index mark 52 at a selected relation to compass index marks 51. The relative positions of the support are preselected and are accomplished by loosening bolts 39, orienting support cone 24 to line up index mark 52 with a selected compass index mark 51, tightening bolts 39 to clamp support cone 24 between lips 35 and 21, and replacing housing cover 19 and securing it with screws 53.

Thus, a method of lighting an area is provided that utilizes permanently mounted luminaires in arrays with each of the luminaires having a selected nonsymrnetrical light throwing pattern, rotating the optical portion ofeach of the luminaires to provide a selected portion of a desired composite light pattern, and tightening the luminaire optical assemblies in position to thereby provide a selected light pattern as shown in FIGS. 7 through 10.

I claim:

1. A luminaire assembly having a plurality of luminaires supported by a luminaire support assembly for mounting on a pole, said luminaires each comprising:

an upper housing connected to the luminaire support as sembly and having an upper housing lip;

a lower housing connected to the upper housing and having a lower housing lip adjacent to and in cooperative clamping position with the upper lip;

a lamp support assembly adapted to be placed and supported between the upper housing lip and the lower housing lip, said assembly rotatable when in position between said lips;

a means for adjustably clamping the lamp support assembly between the upper housing lip and the lower housing lips to selectively clamp said assembly in a selected position; and

a lamp optical assembly having a selected light pattern supported by the lamp support assembly.

2. A luminaire assembly according to claim 1 wherein said upper housing lip is an annular downwardly extending conicalsection lip and said lower housing lip is a downwardly extending conical-section lip.

3. A luminaire assembly according to claim 2 wherein said means for adjustably clamping comprises bolts connecting the upper housing and the lower housing.

4. A luminaire assembly according to claim 3 wherein said lamp support assembly comprises an annular conical section extending between the upper housing lip and the lower housing lip.

St A luminaire assembly according to claim 1 wherein said means for adjustably clamping comprises bolts connecting the upper housing and the lower housing.

6. A luminaire assembly according to claim 1 wherein said lamp support assembly comprises an annular conical section extending between the upper housing lip and the lower housing lip.

7. A luminaire assembly according to claim 6 wherein said upper housing lip is an annular downwardly extending conical section lip and said lower housing lip is a downwardly extending conical section lip.

8 A luminaire assembly according to claim 1 wherein said lower housing is connected to the upper housing by the means for clamping.

9. A luminaire assembly having a plurality of luminaires supported by a luminaire support assembly for mounting on a pole, said luminaires each comprising:

an upper housing having an upper annular downwardly extending conical-section lip;

a tenon connecting the upper housing to the luminaire support assembly;

a lower housing having a lower downwardly extending conical-section lip adjacent the upper lip;

at least one adjustable bolt connecting the lower housing to the upper housing;

a support cone having a conical section adapted to be placed between the upper housing lip and the lower housing lip, said cone rotatable when in position between said lips and clampable in fixed position upon tightening adjustment of the bolts;

a mounting plate connected to and positioned inside the support cone; and

a lamp optical assembly having a selected asymmetrical light pattern supported within the support cone by the mounting plate.

10. A method of illuminating an area with a plurality of luminaires having lamp optical assemblies with selected lighting pattern configurations rotatable within the luminaire housing comprising:

mounting said luminaires in a selected array,

indicating the relative rotational position of each optical assembly relative to its housing,

determining the overall lighting pattern configurations available from the luminaire array with the different rotational positions of each optical assembly,

selecting a desired obtainable lighting pattern configuratlon,

selectively rotating each of the optical assemblies relative to its housing to produce the selected lighting pattern, and mounting the luminaire array on a pole. 

1. A luminaire assembly having a plurality of luminaires supported by a luminaire support assembly for mounting on a pole, said luminaires each comprising: an upper housing connected to the luminaire support assembly and having an upper housing lip; a lower housing connected to the upper housing and having a lower housing lip adjacent to and in cooperative clamping position with the upper lip; a lamp support assembly adapted to be placed and supported between the upper housing lip and the lower housing lip, said assembly rotatable when in position between said lips; a means for adjustably clamping the lamp support assembly between the upper housing lip and the lower housing lips to selectively clamp said assembly in a selected position; and a lamp optical assembly having a selected light pattern supported by the lamp support assembly.
 2. A luminaire assembly according to claim 1 wherein said upper housing lip is an annular downwardly extending conical-section lip and said lower housing lip is a downwardly extending conical-section lip.
 3. A luminaire assembly according to claim 2 wherein said means for adjustably clamping comprises bolts connecting the upper housing and the lower housing.
 4. A luminaire assembly according to claim 3 wherein said lamp support assembly comprises an annular conical section extending between the upper housing lip and the lower housing lip.
 5. A luminaire assembly according to claim 1 wherein said means for adjustably clamping comprises bolts connecting the upper housing and the lower housing.
 6. A luminaire assembly according to claim 1 wherein said lamp support assembly comprises an annular conical section extending between the upper housing lip and the lower housing lip.
 7. A luminaire assembly according to claim 6 wherein said upper housing lip is an annular downwardly extending conical section lip and said lower housing lip is a downwardly extending conical section lip.
 8. A luminaire assembly according to claim 1 wherein said lower housing is connected to the upper housing by the means for clamping.
 9. A luminaire assembly having a plurality of luminaires supported by a luminaire support assembly for mounting on a pole, said luminaires each comprising: an upper housing having an upper annular downwardly extending conical-section lip; a tenon connecting the upper housing to the luminaire support assembly; a lower housing having a lower downwardly extending conical-section lip adjacent the upper lip; at least one adjustable bolt connecting the lower housing to the upper housing; a support cone having a conical section adapted to be placed between the upper housing lip and the lower housing lip, said cone rotatable when in position between said lips and clampable in fixed position upon tightening adjustment of the bolts; a mounting plate connected to and positioned inside the support cone; and a lamp optical assembly having a selected asymmetrical light pattern supported within the support cone by the mounting plate.
 10. A method of illuminating an area with a plurality of luminaires having lamp optical assemblies with selected lighting pattern configurations rotatable within the luminaire housing comprising: mounting said luminaires in a selected array, indicating the relative rotational position of each optical assembly relative to its housing, determining the overall lighting pattern configurations available from the luminaire array with the different rotational positions of each optical assembly, selecting a desired obtainable lighting pattern configuration, selectively rotating each of the optical assemblies relative to its housing to produce the selected lighting pattern, and mounting the luminaire array on a pole. 